Young Adult with diabetes

I am 27 and have 2 children 6 and 3. I had gestational diabetes with both pregnancies and was told I was at risk of developing type 2 later in life. That was when I was 21.

I am now 27 and in 2006 was holidaying when I started to experience symptoms of excessive thirst, going to the toilet and so on. About a month later my doctor said I had type 2 diabetes.

I have for the last year been on insulin, although my sugars would continue to be high. About a month ago I beame very ill over 24 hours vomiting, excessive thirst, pain all over, rapid breathing.

I didn’t know what was happening. My husband called an ambulance and I was admitted to intensive care suffering from DKA a serious life threatening condition. I had no idea what it was.

I was told I would have ended up in a coma or worse, death, if my husband hadn’t called an ambulance.

I was in hospital for over a week. I was told by the doctor I don’t have type 2 but type 1 after being given an antibodies test. I was quite shocked and scared. I once heard somewhere with type 2 if you lost weight it could correct itself and now I have type 1 it is hard to say the least.

I don’t know what is going on. I feel very depressed, crying a lot.

I would really like to talk to others and hear from them on their experiences and how to cope. I just feel I have no one to talk to or understand. My husband is there but I feel he can’t really understand what it’s like to know that this isn’t going away ever.

Editor’s note

We used to think that children got type 1 diabetes and adults got type 2 diabetes and that insulin was just for type 1 diabetes – hence we used to use the terms insulin and non insulin dependent diabetes. We now know this is not the case.

Type 1 diabetes is mainly diagnosed in children and young adults but occurs commonly up to 40 yrs of age – and occasionally even older. Type 2 diabetes is a higher risk over 40 yrs of age but younger people and even children are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes now due to lifestyle and genetic factors.

Insulin is always needed with type 1 diabetes but is also usually needed at some stage with type 2 diabetes as the pancreas burns out over time. This does not mean the person with type 2 has now got type 1 diabetes – it is simply the progression of the disease and type 1 and type 2 diabetes are very different diseases with similar effects on the body.

It is also common for adults with type 1 to be misdiagnosed with type 2 initially if antibody tests are not run at the outset and the assumption made it is type 2 due to their age. There are many factors to consider in diagnosis, but the antibody test is definitive.

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